Waterless urinals a big flop in Delhi

Over 800 waterless urinals in Delhi will now be converted to conventional urinals.

Waterless urinals, the most controversial project of the erstwhile MCD, are now going to be a thing of the past. Over 800 privately-owned waterless urinals have been finally handed over to the three municipal corporations in Delhi which now plan to convert the existing facilities into conventional urinals citing invisibility of the waterless urinals in Delhi.

The development comes after nearly three years of legal battle and subsequent arbitration at the Delhi High Court.

These waterless urinals were constructed on a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and were so far being operated by two companies namely Prabhatam Advertising and Graphisads.

South Delhi Municipal Commissioner Maneesh Gupta said, We have formed teams - one each in four administrative zones of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to take over these urinals. We have directed officials to carry out necessary repair works and make them operational before October 2. We will convert them into conventional toilets later as waterless urinals have proved to be unsuccessful in Delhi. Maintenance of conventional urinals is easier than the waterless urinals??.

Gupta added that Prabhatam Advertising has already consented to hand over its waterless urinals to the civic bodies which will be followed by Graphisads soon. There are 200 waterless urinals under the limits of SDMC, 338 urinals under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and 285 urinals under the East Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The waterless urinals, which officials claimed were more hygienic and odourless, had come up in areas like ITO, IGI Stadium, ISBT Kashmere Gate, New Delhi and Old Delhi railway stations, Mukherjee Nagar, Green Park, Hauz Khas, RK Puram, Lajpat Nagar and Vasant Vihar among others.

North Delhi Municipal Commissioner PK Gupta confirmed the development while adding that with the transfer of urinals to municipal corporations, the private agencies will lose the advertisement rights on these toilets, some of which had come up at prime locations.

NDMC spokesperson Yogendra Singh Mann said that the firms stopped maintaining the urinals while continuing to earn revenue through advertisements on the toilet blocks. This prompted the civic bodies to terminate their contract which prompted the two companies to challenge the move in the Delhi High Court.

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